Typewriter ribbon



p 26, 39- s. A. NEIDICH TYPEWRITER RIBBON Filed Dec. so, 1936 (I r mm SIGNAL BAND INVENTOR SAMUEL A. Nap/cm ATTQRN EY Patented Sept. 26, 1939 UNITED ST TES TYPEWRITER RIBBON Samuel A. Neidich, Burlington, N. J., assignor to Underwood Elliott Fisher Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application December so, 1936, Serial No. 118,300

2 Claims.

This invention relates to typewriter ribbons and more particularly to typewriter ribbons made of strips of paper coated or impregnated, on one face thereof, with transfer material such as have 5 recently gone into common commercial use.

Ribbons of this class, as far as applicant is advised, have not been provided with signals to indicate the near approach of the ends of the ribbons during typing-operations. The result is that,

as the writing approaches the end of the ribbon attached to the supply spool, this end of the ribbon often becomes detached from the spool and has to be reattached thereto before the ribbon can be used again.

ribbon to the spool involvessome labor and takes a substantial amount, of time.

Typewriter ribbons have been provided with signals made by impregnating the ribbon at a point atsome distance from an end thereof with ink of a color contrasting with that in the body of the ribbon. When typing with such a" ribbon, the typewritten matter produced by the engagement of the type with the portion of the ribbon impregnated with the ink of a contrasting color will, of course, be of a different color from that of the remainder of the composition. It is, therefore, impracticable to continue the writing until the type engages this portion of the ribbon but the ribbon must be reversed or removed and a new ribbon substituted before this point is reached. This results in the waste of a considerable portion of the ribbon.

The principal object ofthe present invention is to produce a paper typewriter ribbon having a 5 signal located at a distance from an end thereof in which the signal will unfailingly call the attention of the operator to the fact that the end of the ribbon is near but the writing may be continued in the original color beyond the signal or beyond the initial portion of said signal.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention consists in a typewriter ribbon embodying the novel and improved features hereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the 45 claims, the advantages of which will be readily.

understood by those skilled in the art.

The invention will be clearly understood from the accompanying drawing illustrating a typewriter ribbon embodying the invention in its pre- 50 ferred form and the following detailed descrip- 55 ribbon embodying the invention and certain parts The reattachment of the' of a typewriting machine for holding, moving and guiding the ribbon;

Figure 2 is a plan view of the ribbon and the associated machine parts shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a perspective view illustrating a 5 roll of the ribbon with one end portion partially unwound from the roll.

The typewriter ribbon embodying the present invention as shown in the drawing, comprises a strip of paper 2 of suitable character and width lil which is coated or impregnated upon one face thereof with ink I or other suitable transfer material, the other face of the paper being uncoated. This transfer material is preferably of uniform color throughout its extent longitudinally of the 15'- ribbon and. is illustrated in the drawing as extending completely to the ends of the ribbon, although, if desired, a short length of the ribbon at each end may be left uncoated. The invention also may be embodied in a two color ribbon, of 20 which both of the colors extend, without interruption, substantially from one end of the ribbon to the other.

In order to indicate to the operator, when typing, that the ribbon is nearly unwound from the 25 'supply spool, the ribbon is provided with a signal 6 located at some distance from an end thereof.

In the present embodiment of the invention the direction of movement of the ribbon is intended to be reversed after writing from one end thereof 30 to the other and signals are provided respectively at a distance from each end of the ribbon.

In order that the signals may not interfere with the typing at the points where the same are placed, these signals are applied to that face only of the ribbon opposite that which carries the transfer material and each is spaced from the corresponding end of the ribbon at such a distance that the typing may continue, after the signal appears, across the portion of the ribbon 40 to which the signal is applied and from this point on toward the end of the ribbon for some distance. The signals may conveniently be formed by painting the uncoated face of the ribbon with bands having a color contrasting with the color of said face. I

The signal preferably consists of a coating of material which will strongly reflect the light so that it will unfailingly attract the attention of the operator. In actual practice a band of aluminum paint has been applied to the ribbon on the uncoated side to form the signal band, this paint having a silver color which will be sure to catch the eye of the operator. This paint is applied only to the uncoated side of the ribbon so that as along the portion to which the signal is applied.

The coatingof transfer material on the opposite side of the ribbon extends over the portion to which the signal is applied and from said portion for some distance toward or completely to the end of the ribbon.

The signal may be placed at any distance from an end of the ribbon required to enable the writing to be continued as desired after the signal has been disclosed by the unwinding of the ribbon from the supply spool. In actual practice, the signal has been located at a distance of about two feet from the end of the ribbon. This positioning of the signal enables the typing to be continued over a considerable portion of the ribbon after the signal has reached the point of operation. Thus after the signal has reached the typing point one or more lines of typing may be written to complete a sentence or even to complete a paragraph. This results in a substantial saving of ribbon which has heretofore been wasted for writing purposes.

In the drawing the ribbon 2 is shown as being unwound from a supply spool I rotatably mounted in a cup shaped housing I4. The ribbon passes from the spool out through an opening H3 in the housing It and thence extends to the typing point and through the ribbon guide l8. From the ribbon guide the ribbon extends through an opening 20 in a second housing 22 and is wound up upon a spool 24 rotatably mounted within said housing.

The signal 6 is shown as having appeared between the housing M and the ribbon guide 18. The signal will be in plain sight of the operator from shortly after the time that the portion of the ribbon to which it is applied is unwound from the spool [0 until shortly before said portion is wound up on the spool 24 and its bright color will be sure to attract his attention. With the signal located at a distance of two feet from the end of the ribbon, upon the ordinary typewriting machine, after the signal appears, the typing may be continued for some distance along the ribbon after the signal portion of the ribbon is wound up on the take-up spool.

If desired, the signal may be applied substan tially to the entire end portion of the paper strip. In this case, the inner end of the signal or that portion adjacent the central portion of the strip will be located at the required distance from the end of the strip to give initial notice to the operator of the approach of the end of the strip. The transfer material, of course, will then extend over substantially the'entire end portion of the strip to which the signal is applied.

Having explained the nature and object of the invention and having specifically described a construction embodying the invention in its preferred form, what is claimed is:

1. A typewriter ribbon comprising a strip of paper having a coating of transfer material on one face only of the strip and extending in a uniform color from a point at or adjacent to one end of the strip without interruption to a point at or adjacent to the other end thereof and a signal applied to the opposite face of the strip and having its inner end located at a distance from the adjacent end of the transfer coating such that typing may be continued for a substantial distance after the signal reaches the typing point.

2. In a combination comprising a ribbon guide located at the typing point, a rotatable support for a ribbon from which the ribbon passes to the ribbon guide and a second rotatable support to which the ribbon passes from the ribbon guide, a paper ribbon provided with a signal on one face only having its inner end located at a distance from the adjacent end of the ribbon substantially greater than the distance from the first ribbon support to the typing point and transfer material on the opposite face of the ribbon having a uniform color throughout its extent'longitudinally of the ribbon and extending from the central portion of the ribbon beyond the inner end of the signal for a distance such that the typing may be continued for a considerable distance on the ribbon after the signal reaches the typing point.

SAMUEL A. NEIDICH. 

